Cold air formation and advection over Eurasia during “dzud” cold disaster winters in Mongolia

• Main Authors: Yoshihiro Iijima, Masatake E. Hori
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Arctic; Siberia
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-016-2683-4

Abstract Large negative temperature anomalies due to cold air advection have been observed over the Eurasian continent in recent years. During the 2009/2010 winter, a large amount of snow accumulated across Central Asia and China, which along with a strong cold air outbreak, resulted in extremely high livestock mortality in Mongolia. The present study examined the surface inversion development over the Eurasian continent in terms of the cold air advection, accumulation, and breaking processes at ground level. Meteorological analyses shown trends toward earlier onsets of snow and subsequent cold air advection from the Arctic through western Siberia during the last decade, which is a possible driver of the persistent enhanced surface cooling observed in mid-winter in Mongolia. Cyclones are shown to be drivers of early snowfall onset at the beginning of winter and the subsequent migration of cold air from the Arctic, and are thus the key to understanding and predicting the frequency and intensity of persistent surface cooling, which is a substantial physical precursor for the cold disaster in Mongolia “dzud.” Cold air outbreak, Surface inversion, Snow cover, Mongolia